Border agency announces expanded enforcement against transnational criminal organizations

On Monday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced it was expanding enforcement efforts against Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs).

Troy Miller, senior official performing the duties of Commissioner said the agency would be expanding Operation Plaza Spike to the El Paso and Juarez region, as well as undertaking a new counter-fentanyl surge operation – Apollo X. The two operations will bring the full force of the CBP to the southwest border, officials said, from El Paso to San Diego.

“These ruthless criminal organizations peddle chaos and profit from human suffering. They traffic illicit drugs into our country that make their way into our communities,” Miller said. “They exploit vulnerable migrants, leaving them for dead in the unforgiving desert. And they cause cross-border violence that puts border communities – and our law enforcement personnel – at risk. They are sophisticated, innovative, and relentless. But so are the men and women of Customs and Border Protection.”

Operation Plaza Spike targets the plaza bosses and cartels that facilitate the flow of fentanyl into the country, as well as the operations’ analogs, precursors and tool used to make the drug. The operation is designed to disrupt operation in the “plazas,” or cartel territories located directly south of the United States. The operation will employ several tactics including seizing illicit proceeds and scrutinizing related cross-border business entities.

Apollo X will use actionable intelligence to find and seize fentanyl, as well as to uncover the supply chains and determine where the drugs are coming from and where it’s headed. The information gathered will also be shared with CBP’s state and local partners in an effort to find and stop TCO networks.

“We’re working closely with our federal, state, and local partners – along the southwest border and now specifically in El Paso,” Miller said. “We are using all of our collective intelligence and operational capabilities to focus pressure and disruption operations on these TCOs. These partnerships are critical in all of our enforcement efforts. CBP is proud to lead the federal government’s efforts in the fight against fentanyl.”

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